I hope these downvotes don't make you disappointed about bringing out your message. Take care and stay safe wherever you are.
In all honesty, when I was last online and saw the downvotes, I was a little disappointed, as it felt that perhaps the reasonable, thoughtful comments threads that I've grown to love on HN were perhaps being lost to reddit-style political populism. While one batch of downvotes or upvotes will not sway me to or away from HN, I'm happy to see HN users live up to my expectations of them. I hope this doesn't sound pompous.
Likewise, I hope you also take care and stay safe, wherever you are, toni.
OK, maybe beginning to see a pattern
>Burma
I'm not an expert on Burma, but haven't they become a democracy again? I'd like to know what/any effect US sanctions had on this.
>Syria
I don't think this is a great example against isolation causing regime change
I am less welcoming of the news that Iran will be reconnected to SWIFT, as I think that the real good news would be the downfall of the Mullahs and the rise of a representative, reasonable Iranian government, in peace with its neighbours and its own citizens.